Early Childhood and Elementary Education Double Major

Welcome to the site for the Double Major in
Early Childhood/Elementary Education, a program in the
Department of Teacher Education, housed in the Seidel School of
Education and Professional Studies at Salisbury University. Our
faculty and staff members are committed to preparing prospective
teachers and we look forward to working with you.

Our work is guided by a conceptual framework centered on
knowledge, skills and dispositions, critical for today’s
educators to promote student success. You can find information
about our Conceptual Framework’s specific themes and associated
learning outcomes at
http://www.salisbury.edu/Seidel/cf.html.

Salisbury University is distinguished in offering three
nationally accredited programs: Elementary Education (Grades
1-6), Early Childhood Education (Grades Pre-K-3) and the
double major in Early Childhood/Elementary Education (Grades Pre-K
through Grade 6).
Middle grades certification can be obtained by taking the
Praxis II in a specific content area.

Becoming a teacher is a very important career. Teachers
touch the lives of many children, helping them to become life
long learners and positive citizens of the world. If one is
considering entering the teaching profession, it should not be
taken lightly. The role of the teacher is one of the most
meaningful careers anyone can pursue and it takes a dedicated
person to read critically, understand the development of
children, and continually seek best practices to provide the
best enriching, stimulating environment in which our children
can learn and grow physically, socially, emotionally and
cognitively.

Many students assume that having a double major will make
them more marketable when seeking employment in the teaching
profession. This may often be true, but an even truer reality is
that students with the double major may also feel obligated to
accept a position outside of their comfort zone due to their
certification in teaching within a broad range of children’s
ages.

Before students seek a Double Major, consider this:

Can you see yourself teaching Pre-Kindergarten?

What about accepting a position
teaching 6th Grade?

If you truly can see yourself being
excited about teaching the very young child as well as the
intermediate student, then by all means, this degree may be
just what you are looking for.

On the other hand, if you are a bit
uncomfortable teaching the very young, or equally
uncomfortable teaching the intermediate grades, you may want
to focus more on either the elementary education degree or
the early childhood degree.

The time frame
for completing the double major is approximately 4 ½ years.
Considering students are certified in two areas, the additional
semester is well worth it. If time is an issue, taking courses
during summer and winter sessions will help to shrink the extra
semester to fit more in the realm of a 4-year program. The
internship for the double major requires three 7-week
placements; all placements will be within the same semester,
concurrent with one another. Interns in this program during
Block D (see attached checklist) will be placed in a Pre-K or K
classroom, a first, second or third grade classroom and a 4th
grade or higher classroom to complete the program; additionally
they will begin earlier and end later during the semester of
internship than those students seeking a single certification.
Double major students are required to complete 100 days their
senior year, as is required in the other two programs.

Please peruse the web site for early childhood education and
elementary education before making a choice. For more
information about the double major, contact the director of Early
Childhood Education, Dr. Chin-Hsiu Chen, TETC
281E; cxchen@salisbury.edu.

We encourage you to carefully reviewallinformation
in theAcademics
Menu and note the following important links:

Although youareexpected
to meet regularly with your assigned faculty advisor to discuss
your progress, youareresponsible
for meeting allElementary
and Early Childhood Educationrequirements,
as well as thegeneral
requirements outlined in theUniversity
Catalog.